The first day of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu turned contentious on Wednesday, with the ruling DMK and opposition AIADMK trading allegations over the distribution and handling of voter enumeration forms. While the AIADMK accused DMK functionaries of intimidating booth-level officers (BLOs) and mismanaging the exercise, the DMK countered that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had failed to distribute the necessary forms on time.

AIADMK leaders D. Jayakumar and MP I. S. Inbadurai submitted a formal complaint to Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik, alleging that BLOs were being pressured by DMK cadres to hand over enumeration forms directly to them. Speaking to the media, Jayakumar claimed that such interference could distort the voter verification process. “Ruling party functionaries are threatening BLOs to hand over the enumeration forms. They plan to collect the filled-in forms themselves, which could allow selective distribution and lead to law and order issues,” he alleged.

In response, DMK’s legal wing secretary N. R. Elango dismissed the allegations and blamed administrative inefficiency for the confusion. “BLOs themselves have not received the forms in many places. The first day of SIR has gone without even distributing them. In some pockets of Coimbatore and Tiruppur, BLOs distributed the forms but asked voters to return them the next day,” Elango said. He added that the month-long period for the SIR exercise—from November 4 to December 4—was poorly scheduled, coinciding with the northeast monsoon, agricultural season, and upcoming festive months like Christmas and Pongal.

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Elango further pointed out discrepancies in the ECI’s older electoral rolls, which he said contained unclear details such as missing street names and duplicate voter entries. “Voters are finding it difficult to trace their names, and any errors in filling out the forms could result in deletions from the rolls,” he stated. To address complaints arising from the enumeration process, the DMK has reportedly formed a legal committee of eight advocates.

Meanwhile, Jayakumar dismissed the opposition’s claims that one month is insufficient for the enumeration drive. “One BLO covers around 300 houses, which can be managed within a month. The booth slips issued ahead of elections take less than a week, so this criticism is groundless,” he said. Rejecting allegations that the SIR process aims to strike lakhs of names off the rolls, he asserted that “AIADMK will not allow voter suppression in Tamil Nadu.”

The SIR exercise, conducted under the supervision of the Election Commission, is meant to verify and update the state’s voter lists ahead of upcoming elections. However, the sharp exchanges between the two Dravidian heavyweights suggest that even a routine administrative process has turned into a political flashpoint, foreshadowing heated debates as the revision continues.

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